Title: You Don’t Have to Move the Washer to Make Toast – Reflections
Author: Susan A. Rader
Publisher: Toplink Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-1-949169-45-4
Pages: 275
Genre: Non-Fiction / Religion
Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger Scott

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In this engaging and uplifting memoir, styled as a “religious autobiography,” Susan A. Rader recalls the many unusual circumstances which kept her alive, made her happy, and gave her hope in her book titled You Don’t Have to Move the Washer to Make Toast – Reflections.

After her upbringing in a dysfunctional family, Rader joined the Women’s Army Corps in the 1970s. Assigned to be a Barracks Sergeant in Germany, she saw and dealt with situations she would never have imagined possible, including calmly disarming a woman who held a straight razor to another’s woman’s neck. Though Rader had a reputation for being tough, no one knew she would go back to her room at night and throw up from the stress. Her army career ended when she was poisoned by cyanide after being ordered to test a new gas mask. She began having seizures and lost her memory for months. Shipped back to Oklahoma with a small disability stipend, she was convinced she had come home “to die.” But a kind neighbor began talking to her about God, and suddenly, the VA sent her a large check and greatly increased her disability payments. Rader promptly took a Bible study course, met a man who understood and forgave what she considered her rough and rocky past, married him and had a daughter — though none of those life events were as simple as they seemed.

The author has composed her story with a prodigious memory for small details and a strong gift for dialog. She often saw herself as unworthy and unlovable, and attributes her survival and success to her connection to God. Many times, it seems, she was saved or assisted by some sort of divine prescience or intuition. Just when she needed it most, for example, someone offered a house-cleaning job, something she could do despite her seizure disorder; and a friend offered to help her buy clothes for her impending honeymoon. Rader describes with verve her perilous last hours of childbirth and the blessing of having a healthy daughter, with whom she would later paint a giant mural for the children’s room at their church. The author suffered and prayed when her husband developed a potentially fatal aneurysm, until his successful recovery. With faith and good humor, Rader always returns her focus to the power of divine providence that has led her to positive outcomes.

Rader’s book is the saga of someone who could easily have died in her youth and was miraculously spared. I found You Don’t Have to Move the Washer to Make Toast by Susan A. Rader both enlightening and empowering. This book can provide inspiration for religious study groups. Additionally, this is an inspirational read which I recommend to all those of the Christian faith, as well as other religions.