FOOL'S GOLD: COLOR ME CONSUMED
Melody Carlson
Th1nk Books/NavPress
Fiction
ISBN: 1576835340
221 pages

When young missionary Hannah Johnson arrives from Papua, New Guinea for a six-month stay in the U.S. while her parents are on furlough raising money to go back to New Guinea, she's immediately faced with culture shock. Not only is this unassuming high schooler forced to make lightning-speed adjustment to the United States, Hannah is plunged into the high society of Southern California where materialism reigns supreme. From the get-go, Hannah's cousin, Vanessa, tries to outwardly redo and remake Hannah to fit into Vanessa's trend-setting stylish world of high fashion.

Hannah is amazed at how easily her cousin spends her uncle's newfound wealth, plunking down the credit cards with nary a thought to price. Dubious at first, Hannah quickly finds herself succumbing to the lure of "purchasing power" after her aunt and cousin outfit her in some real designer clothes for her new job. Once on the job, Hannah begins making excuses for joining other working girls during their lunchtime buying sprees at a nearby shopping mall by telling herself that she "needs" these items for work, for play, for whatever.

Though cautioned by her well-meaning supervisor to slow down on the buying, Hannah asks for an advance on her paycheck, signs for a Macy's charge account, and opens a checking account at the local bank (with a credit card) --- for convenience sake, of course. Before the first working week is over, Hannah has managed to overspend her advance. Doing some quick calculating, she is forced to ask herself why she's spending so much. Why is the need to fit in with this wealthy circle of friends so important to her? And how does God fit into this picture?

When Hannah departed from New Guinea, she purposefully left her Bible and God behind. It was time for a re-evaluation, she thought. So now, all alone, feeling miserable, confused and overwhelmed, Hannah "reckons" it's time for another heart to heart with God. Between listening to her heart and denying herself further material goodies, Hannah slowly makes a turnaround that eventually impacts and influences her cousin and family to be more circumspect with their own extravagant lifestyles.

Perhaps one of the most telling lessons Hannah learns is that "excess" is to be found in every aspect of life --- and developing a keen sense of what standards a person is going to govern their lives by is absolutely essential. In Hannah's situation, she realizes after the fact that playing it "loose" with her values and her actions was more costly than she had planned. Thankfully, Hannah loses only a summer's worth of wages.

   --- Reviewed by Michele Howe

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