Title: Try-N-Find-Us
Author: Frederic Buse
Publisher: Authors Tranquility Press
ISBN: 978-1968750909
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 136
Reviewer: Lily Amanda
Hollywood Book Reviews
Try-N-Find-Us by Frederic Buse is a gentle, down-to-earth memoir that unravels the beautiful, and sometimes frustrating journey of building a home, a life, and an identity from the ground up. It is a story that sets out to answer the widely spread question of whether comfort, belonging, and identity are things one builds alone or whether they are earned faster through teamwork and love.
The story follows a young couple, Fred (the author) and his wife, Dot, who met while working in the same industrial factory. They got married and lived for a short while in an apartment before an endearing dream was conceived in them of having a place of their own; somewhere quieter and more natural than the town where they worked. None of them had any real experience with country life, but they had scouting backgrounds, so they imagined they could handle it. Soon, they found a house in the New Jersey countryside, at a secluded place called Turkey Hill. This move wasn’t just practical, but a leap of faith born from youthful optimism.
One can’t help but smile at the sheer innocence of their purchase of a house that would turn out to hold more surprises than comforts. As you read on you get the sense of a place that was half forgotten, with the kind of silence that listens back when you speak. Dots called it charming, while Fred called it promising but both couldn’t deny the weight in the air, like the place itself was hiding secrets. However, what they didn’t know was that the land there had its own plans, and it never gave out anything without asking for something else in return.
This is a unique story that accurately mirrors how relationships and identities are built through trials and patience. It is driven by characters whose first steps feel funny at first but then slowly turn into hard-won wisdom as they fight against exhaustion, frustration, and the shifting weight of ordinary survival. Fred’s prose is plainspoken, direct, and deeply sensory. It feels like someone talking you through a memory while pointing at old photographs. I loved the book’s strong documentary feel and its “how-to” sequences that smoothly complemented its moments of sudden tenderness and reflection.
What stood out for me about the characters was Fred’s slightly stubborn nature, which had him learn almost everything the hard way, a trait hilariously underscored by his repeated, self-admitted refusal to read instructions, Dot’s reactions which I believe anchored the story’s emotion (her cry of “Get me out of here!” after slipping on the icy step is a moment of pure, relatable human frustration that echoes through the entire narrative), and the land, a silent character that challenges, teaches, and at times mocks their effort. This is a book that instead of relying on drama, finds meaning in tools, seasons, and mistakes. Its structure, (chronological, year by year), gives it the feel of a family scrapbook, allowing the reader to sense time passing. There are profound lessons in the book’s quietest moments: the shared exhaustion after a concrete pour, the simple joy of a screened-in porch finally free of mosquitoes, the silent understanding between a man and a tree he must cut down. These aren’t just tasks but rituals that build a life.
If you’re the kind of person who prefers a story that’s real and heartfelt over something perfectly polished, you’ll love Try-N-Find-Us by Frederic Buse. It’s for anyone who believes the simple life is the good life, and that the things worth building are the ones that take the most work. It’s a smart read that’ll sneak into your thoughts and pop up in your own life when you least expect it.