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Wait Until Twilight

by Sang Pak (Goodreads Author)

3.04 of 5 stars 3.04 · rating details · 56 ratings · 21 reviews

A debut coming-of-age novel about a motherless teenage boy who discovers a terrifying secret in his small Georgia town, and finds that sometimes the most gruesome monsters are those inside ourselves.

What I need to do, needs to be done before it gets too dark . . .

Sixteen-year-old Samuel confronts his own inner monster when he discovers a set of deformed triplets whose moth...more

Paperback, 240 pages

Published August 4th 2009 by Harper Paperbacks (first published August 1st 2009)

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Mar 10, 2011 Amanda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Finally--a well-written, engaging, thought-provoking and imaginative Southern gothic! It's been awhile since I sat down to read a book and got through the entire novel without skipping a single line. Wait Until Twilight by Sang Park is easily one of the best coming-of-age novels I've read all year.

Set in the small Southern town of Sugweepo, Georgia, this poignant story about a sixteen-year-old boy's internal struggle to do the right thing is sure to charm readers. Samuel's narrative is a well-c...more

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Oct 23, 2009 gautami rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed-books

"Their heads are way too big, and their arms and legs are all different lengths. Some long, some just stumps with little fingernails stuck in a semicircle. Even their eyes are different sizes, one larger than the other, and their twisted little noses are hardly there."

Samuel is a 16 year old boy who has lost his mother. He lives with his dad in Georgia. His older brother Jim, is in college and has drifted apart from the family after the loss of their mother. He has do a Video shoot for one of hi...more "Their heads are way too big, and their arms and legs are all different lengths. Some long, some just stumps with little fingernails stuck in a semicircle. Even their eyes are different sizes, one larger than the other, and their twisted little noses are hardly there."

Samuel is a 16 year old boy who has lost his mother. He lives with his dad in Georgia. His older brother Jim, is in college and has drifted apart from the family after the loss of their mother. He has do a Video shoot for one of his school project. When his friend David takes him to a family for such a shoot, he simply freaks out. There he sees three babies who are triplets and are totally deformed. Their mother thinks they have been divinely conceived and sees nothing wrong with them.

Although Samuel comes out of the house totally revolted but he can't get those monster children out of his mind. They take up all his waking thoughts. Then he meets the older brother of the triplets, who is a danger for the children. Samuel knows he has to save those children. However, he understands that he has his own demons to kill. Because giving in to the dark impulses is easy and overcoming those is the most difficult task.

We slowly see Samuel emerge from a boy to maturity. He constantly misses his mother. And yet knows that he has to make something of his life. His friendship with mixed races, and with people from different cultures is one step towards that goal. Despite his initial revulsion for the deformed children, he somehow comes to accept them as they are and knows he has to save them from their vile older brother Daryl, who wishes them dead at any cost. Samuel also tries to build bridges with his older brother Jim, whom he had missed so much.

The story is told from the point of view of Samuel and is not really a very easy read. But well worth it. Sang Pak's debut novel really works. His handle of the language is good and he can uncannily know the ways the mind of an adolescent works. That too of one, who has lost his mother. It is all about the darkness within us, which we have to face and ultimately overcome. A coming-of-age novel, with a satisfying end. I just couldn't put it down after I started it.

Thanks to the author/publicist for the review copy.Wait Until Twilight (less)

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Sep 20, 2009 Mishel Zabala rated it 3 of 5 stars

Samuel is a sixteen-year-old teenager who's dealing with the death of his mother. He's working on getting good grades and just being a normal kid. However, Samuel seems to struggle at being "normal". School is important to him as our his relationships with his friends and father. But it's when he becomes fascinated, if not totally obsessed, with a set of deformed triplets he comes across with his friend in search of the perfect video project.

Samuel's horror is clear, not just from the first sce...more

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May 29, 2010 Rose rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

An interesting take on a coming-of-age story. Samuel is an incredibly smart sophmore in high school who recently lost his mother to a brain tumor and lives alone with his father. His estranged brother, since the death of his mom, is living away at college. Samuel feels a bit closed off about the death of his mother and doesn't seems a bit isolated within all his relationships.

On day his friend and him have an assignment for school which involves a story and video tape. His friend brings him to...more An interesting take on a coming-of-age story. Samuel is an incredibly smart sophmore in high school who recently lost his mother to a brain tumor and lives alone with his father. His estranged brother, since the death of his mom, is living away at college. Samuel feels a bit closed off about the death of his mother and doesn't seems a bit isolated within all his relationships.

On day his friend and him have an assignment for school which involves a story and video tape. His friend brings him to Mrs. Greenan's to do a story on her horribly deformed triplets. These babies have a powerfully negative effect on Samuel to the point of him having to vomit outside the home once he has seen them. Mrs. Greenan, who believes the babies are special and born from an "immaculate conception" tells him to leave and not come back. Samuel cannot seem to shake those babies from his mind and finds himself returning over and over again. What Samuel later learns is that there is a malevolent presence in that home in the form of the triplets 20-something older brother, Daryl. Daryl depises the babies and wants to do them harm.

This is a story about Samuel's struggle with his own personal demons and dark nature that we all harbor to some degree and how to resolve those emotional appropriately choose the "light" over the "dark". We got through some of these struggles along with Samuel during this strange summer. I believe much of the story of the babies and Samuel's choices are a metaphor for his emotions and making right choices which is what teens are all about learning to do, which is making the right choices. Samuel handles school and friends and his choices with great balance. There is smoking, alchohol, drugs and sex which he is faced with as are all teens, yet he handles each one fairly well. He's experiental, yet not indulgent as he has goals set for himself to do extra well in school. This is a strength, which I believe he carries with him and soon becomes aware of along the way.

Not to give away the stories plotlines too much, but this is an atmostpheric, haunting, dark, violent tale that may not be suitable for all tastes or ages. I would let both of my sons read it who are teens but they are quite mature and could handle to content. I would not say that for all teens. I would caution parents to read first, then decide.
(less)

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Dec 14, 2011 Liyana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Coming of age stories aren't my thing. Especially not one which has stark scenes of cruelty, even though they were necessary for the development of the book. That's not to say that this isn't a good story. It was haunting, especially seeing Samuel battle both his inner and outer demons. He was courageous, and he was compassionate, choosing to help fix problems that weren't his own to begin with.

When we first meet Samuel, he's a little bit lost, losing his mother and having to deal with family me...more

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Dec 24, 2009 Lori Anderson rated it 3 of 5 stars

The haunting cover of this book made me pick it up at the bookstore, and the promised coming-of-age story caused me to buy it.

There were many passages in the book that I liked, and there were a lot of thought-provoking, poignant bits. The horrific, violent parts, though, felt jarring and right on the edge of unbelievable. Upon finishing the book, I decided that the deformed babies and the story line that went along with them very likely was a metaphor for the pain and guilt Samuel felt about his...more

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Sep 18, 2009 Violet Crush rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: i-own

Samuel is a teenager who has lost his mother a year back. He lives in a small Georgia town with his father who owns a hardware store. One day he and his friend David decide to film 3 babies that are said to be very odd. Some say they look like the devil. Samuel wants something cool and different for their school project, so on a hot sunny afternoon they head off to the “Underwood”. That’s the place where the triplets live with their mother.

Samuel has a very strong reaction after he sees the babi...more Samuel is a teenager who has lost his mother a year back. He lives in a small Georgia town with his father who owns a hardware store. One day he and his friend David decide to film 3 babies that are said to be very odd. Some say they look like the devil. Samuel wants something cool and different for their school project, so on a hot sunny afternoon they head off to the “Underwood”. That’s the place where the triplets live with their mother.

Samuel has a very strong reaction after he sees the babies, to the extent that he pukes. Look at the description:

Their heads are way too big, and their arms and legs are all different lengths. Some long, some just stumps with little fingernails stuck in a semicircle. Even their eyes are different sizes, one larger than the other, and their twisted little noses are hardly there.

The mother is angry and drives them out of the house. After this incident Samuel spends his days as before. But the babies’ faces keep haunting him. They are all he thinks of day and night. Their faces keep on haunting him in his dreams and even when he is awake. He knows he shouldn’t return to the house but he does. The mother of the babies has an older psycho son called Daryl whom Samuel should have probably stayed away from. But as days turn into months he becomes so obsessed by the babies that he keeps going back. He wants to do something to save the babies to find peace within.

Wait Until Twilight is mostly a coming of age story but it’s also a story about overcoming the demons inside you and taking charge. The prose was very simple and hence the book was a quick read. But that was exactly what made the horror and the danger that Samuel was in seem so real. The story grows on you slowly and takes hold of and doesn’t let you go till the very end.

The descriptions of the small town were bang on and I could also feel Samuel’s thoughts, his guilt and his fear seeping through the pages. As the book progressed I grew to really like Samuel and the choices he made. And although I sometimes wanted to tell him that what he was doing was very wrong and dangerous, I also knew that he had to do it.

Conclusion: Wait Until Twilight is a great debut novel and although it’s a YA, this is one of the books that is without doubt a cross-over.

First posted at http://violetcrush.wordpress.com/2009...(less)

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Jun 04, 2013 Marshall rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the best Southern Gothic novel I have read in a long time. What Sang Pak does in this relatively slim book is galaxies ahead of what it took Donna Tartt about ten times as many pages to do in her unreadable second novel. Pak's command of language and pacing, his observational eye, and his ability to rise to sudden violence are all very impressive. My only criticism of the book isn't about the book itself but about the way it was presented to the world. Is it YA? Is it a suspense novel? W...more

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Aug 22, 2009 Crystal rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, read-august-2009, reviewed

This is a very interesting book - it starts out like a horror book, but really it is a coming of age tale, with some serious suspense and horror to go along with it. This is my first coming-of-age story of a boy that I have read and I really enjoyed it. Boys and girls are very different and this really gave me some insight for the future with my boys.

A very enjoyable novel - it feels real from the perspective of Samuel who is dealing with the loss of his mother while finishing up high school and...more

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May 14, 2011 Paula Weston rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, literary

It’s easy to ignore evil when your life hasn’t been touched by it, but what do you do when it has? Do you just walk away or will it haunt you until you face it? And what if the darkness is in you?

American writer Sang Pak’s debut novel Wait until twilight explores the influence of dark impulses on sixteen-year-old Samuel, an intelligent and intuitive teenager whose world is shaken when he encounters a set of deformed triplets hidden behind closed doors in his sleepy southern town.

My full review i...more

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Sep 23, 2009 Melody rated it 4 of 5 stars

Reading Wait Until Twilight is totally a new experience for me. In the beginning, I was very intrigued by the premise. It is about a sixteen-year-old, Samuel, who is coping with the death of her mother after she died of a brain tumor. However, this story does not focus on his dealing of her death, it is more of a coming-of-age story after he encountered something horrific and unimaginable that made him see things differently and more clearly as compared to other boys his age.

Samuel's father own...more Reading Wait Until Twilight is totally a new experience for me. In the beginning, I was very intrigued by the premise. It is about a sixteen-year-old, Samuel, who is coping with the death of her mother after she died of a brain tumor. However, this story does not focus on his dealing of her death, it is more of a coming-of-age story after he encountered something horrific and unimaginable that made him see things differently and more clearly as compared to other boys his age.

Samuel's father owns a shop and his brother, Jill is attending college in a nearby town. Samuel is not close with his family, but that does not really bother him. His so-called peaceful life is interrupted when he has to think of ideas for his school project and he found three deformed babies in his neighbour's house. Before this, he had heard of rumours on the babies but this is the first time that he actually believed in them. Thereafter, the image of the deformed babies began to haunt him in his waking moments as well as in his dreams and he knows he has to see them again.

The triplets' mother, Mrs Greenan, however does not welcome him and thinks he is nothing but a troublemaker. Besides the triplets, Mrs Greenan also has an older son, Daryl, but it seems there is something not right about him. Samuel is troubled by his violent and abusive behaviour and this is where the core of the story really is. You see, Samuel is battling with himself for as much as he find the triplets horrifying, however there is an emotion in him that makes him want to save them. This dilemma he faces will question about his humanity and how the decision he made in the end will affect his outlook on life thereafter.

In the beginning, I did not know what to expect when I started reading this story. Reading the part about the deformed triplets left me in chills because like Samuel, I was totally unprepared for it. Honestly I was a little scared of them, but yet I also felt sorry for them. This book was not an easy read and there were times I had to set it aside before picking it up again. Though the story may sound a little dark, but I like the idea of having a young protagonist who is battling with his inner self, especially on a sensitive topic like this.(less)

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Sep 15, 2009 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Susan by: Missy's Book Nook

Shelves: coming-of-age, family-relationships, friendship, fiction, high-school, own-in-book-format, read-in-2009, reading-challenges

Wait Until Twilight is a wonderfully well-written piece of fiction set against a realistic small-town backdrop. The characters are compelling and authentic, with interesting motives that make you want to continue reading even though you may be disturbed by the story.

"Powerfully affecting" is exactly how I would describe Wait Until Twilight. It was extremely hard for me to read parts of the book - not because of the language or anything, but because of the subject matter. Truthfully, I didn't kno...more

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Aug 28, 2009 Paula rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had seen this book at Schuler's bookstore and decided to pick it up at Border's with a coupon - wrote the author's name down, something I never do, and did actually follow through. Very interesting first novel - the back cover really had me curious. I enjoyed it, but found the vernacular a little awkward. Almost as if a foreigner were writing this, though I believe the author is native to Georgia. The 1st person narrative was well done. Thought processes felt a bit broken, but did capture the...more

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Aug 28, 2009 Shellie (Layers of Thought) rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: mature young adults; parents; teachers

Recommended to Shellie (Layers of Thought) by: Sang Pak

Shelves: age-young-adult, genre-mystery-thriller-true-crime, genre-general-fiction-literature, friends-goodreads, read-in-2009, blog-reviews

Mini Synopsis:
Samuel is in his first year of high school. He’s a good kid. He’s smart, popular, from a healthy family, and facing the normal challenges which occur for most young teens. Coupled with his adolescent angst, he just lost his mother to cancer. In addition he is also harboring feelings of guilt around her death.
In an attempt to create a video for a class assignment, he decides to record a local set of triplets whom have some unusual physical disabilities. Because of these oddities the...more Mini Synopsis:
Samuel is in his first year of high school. He’s a good kid. He’s smart, popular, from a healthy family, and facing the normal challenges which occur for most young teens. Coupled with his adolescent angst, he just lost his mother to cancer. In addition he is also harboring feelings of guilt around her death.
In an attempt to create a video for a class assignment, he decides to record a local set of triplets whom have some unusual physical disabilities. Because of these oddities they are surround by local myth, mystery, ignorance, and sadly horror. When Samuel sees “the babies” for the first time, he has strong conflicting emotions, and an obsession develops for him to see them again, and again. This desire leads him to discover a terrifying situation involving them. As he becomes inextricably involved, he must ultimately decide what constitutes right action, and what defines men as evil. The choices he makes move him toward the beginnings of manhood.
My thoughts:
I gave this book 4 stars – I loved it.
Sang Pak has given the young adult reader “a modern rites of passage” story, with many of the current day conflicts which boys and teens face. Samuel, the main character, is an excellent and important role model for growing men as they struggle with the inevitable tobacco, drug and alcohol exposure, and sexual introduction. What is important is that Samuel’s character immerses himself in these situations without loosing his sensibilities and balance. The character provides an example of neither abstinence nor abuse when confronted with these issues, which although not the only option is a sensible one.
Speaking from the perspective of an adult with a background in childhood education I have been led to look at books for their “learning/teaching opportunities”. Waiting for Twilight has them. Because of the content in the story I do recommend this book for a mature teen, as well as their parents, or adults interested in issues around young adults. The book contains smoking, drugs and alcohol usage, safe sex, and violence. These examples can be used as a starting place to begin “conversations”, since as adults, we cannot prevent an exposure to them.(less)

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Jan 31, 2010 Adil rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read the book because I know the author. It's a good first novel, I enjoyed reading it. It was somewhat of a page-turner. I'm looking forward to his next novel. I think he has great potential and this is only a glimpse of that.

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Nov 03, 2012 Colleen rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of the best books I have read in a long time. Expect to read it cover to cover. Pak has an incredible ability to set the tone. I felt like it consumed my life until I was finished with the book. It's just captivating.

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Aug 23, 2010 Sarah added it

Shelves: started-but-didn-t-finish

Okay, I got 8 chapters in, and just wasn't into it, so I'm giving up.

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Oct 20, 2011 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Strange. Disturbing.

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Aug 17, 2009 Erica added it

I think I would have liked this more if the cover/copy had made it seem more coming of age instead of thriller-y. it is not thriller-y. yes, maybe some of the plot elements are (there's some violence), but it is solidly coming of age territory. And even though I love love love the cover photo, in the end I don't love it for this book. It's less in your face than the cover would have you believe--which is not a bad thing.

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Oct 10, 2009 Bev rated it 3 of 5 stars

You had me at "deformed triplets."

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Dec 08, 2009 Carrie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

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May 10, 2013 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars

Apr 28, 2013 Blake marked it as to-read

Shelves: books-i-own

Apr 13, 2013 Sam Jackson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mar 17, 2013 Damali marked it as to-read

Shelves: library-ebook-available

Mar 12, 2013 Tif added it

Shelves: on-my-shelf

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Shelves: downloads

Feb 21, 2013 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

Feb 09, 2013 Erika marked it as to-read

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About Sang Pak

Sang Pak is a Georgia-raised writer with English and Psychology degrees from the University of Georgia. He is currently on hiatus from New York University’s graduate program in Psychology. He divides his time between Georgia, Southern California and Seoul.

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