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Iced
In this harrowing debut, Shell mixes the syncopated language of the streets with poetry from the heart to take the reader deep into the horrifying, mesmerizing world of Cornelius Washington, Jr., a 40-year-old crack addict trapped in a life that's dominated by drugs. "A powerhouse."--Maya Angelou.
256 pages, Paperback
First published October 11, 1993
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681 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
July 23, 2007
Few books have made me feel as uncomfortable as this book about drug users. I wanted to alternatively kick and hug the guy, and then take a long, long shower.
January 24, 2011
This authors detailed account of our addicted character, almost seems too real as if he has experienced this lifestyle himself. This gripping, compelling storyline takes us further into Cornelius' personal decent into his own private hell. Each chapter could be a climatic ending, making this stunning story absolutely riveting!
January 23, 2015
Hypnotic, humorous, haunting, horrifying, harrowing. I was hooked on this.
September 5, 2012
Truly horrifying tale of the harrowing life of a current crack addict, with a window into his incredible past.
Shell does this stream-of-consciousness style, bringing the reader right into the brain of the crackhead. It's pretty utterly amazingly written, and completely tragic. Not for the faint of heart.
But I love that kind of thing. Thanks for the recommendation, Meeks!
Shell does this stream-of-consciousness style, bringing the reader right into the brain of the crackhead. It's pretty utterly amazingly written, and completely tragic. Not for the faint of heart.
But I love that kind of thing. Thanks for the recommendation, Meeks!
February 4, 2015
I read this book on recommendation by my A-level EngLit teacher. This book is shocking, powerful and just brilliant ... I wrote about it as a comparison text with Othello, looking at the idea of the modern tragic hero and race (doesn't that sound impressive).
August 13, 2024
Everyone should read this book. Writing this review is difficult because this is one of those stories that has the most impact when you go into it blind.
Written in the form of a diary, Iced is about a Black man who has been addicted to crack cocaine for most of his adult life (he’s now in his 40’s). Emotionally it’s an incredibly tough read because you’re witness to his story, and are pulled back and forth between his past where he’d suffered a great loss but still had the potential to lead a great and healthy life, and the present where he is ruled by his addiction.
He talks about the power of will and what it means to a person who was never taught to harness it. He talks a lot about grief and blame. He talks a lot about loneliness and isolation, the ways those are forced onto drug addicts and homeless people as a way of life. Essentially, it’s a commentary on the crack epidemic that hit America in the 90’s, which caused irreparable damage to the Black and poor communities the most.
I want to talk about the main character, Cornelius, but I’m forcing myself quiet. He’s unlike any character I’ve ever met and I know he’ll stay with me a long time (for better or for worse). There were a lot of points where I felt a deep sadness for him, and there were others where I felt something else entirely.
Read the book. Please. It will be difficult as there are SO many sensitive topics dealt with, but I think it’s a super important story and well worth the journey.
Written in the form of a diary, Iced is about a Black man who has been addicted to crack cocaine for most of his adult life (he’s now in his 40’s). Emotionally it’s an incredibly tough read because you’re witness to his story, and are pulled back and forth between his past where he’d suffered a great loss but still had the potential to lead a great and healthy life, and the present where he is ruled by his addiction.
He talks about the power of will and what it means to a person who was never taught to harness it. He talks a lot about grief and blame. He talks a lot about loneliness and isolation, the ways those are forced onto drug addicts and homeless people as a way of life. Essentially, it’s a commentary on the crack epidemic that hit America in the 90’s, which caused irreparable damage to the Black and poor communities the most.
I want to talk about the main character, Cornelius, but I’m forcing myself quiet. He’s unlike any character I’ve ever met and I know he’ll stay with me a long time (for better or for worse). There were a lot of points where I felt a deep sadness for him, and there were others where I felt something else entirely.
Read the book. Please. It will be difficult as there are SO many sensitive topics dealt with, but I think it’s a super important story and well worth the journey.
September 13, 2024
Heavy heavy heavy! There are some serious topics in this book, and while it is a great read, it's certainly not an easy read in places. The main character, Cornelius, I loved. He is written so well, so vividly. It presents him before and after "the pipe" took control, with moments of lucidity in his darkest times. He'll break your heart, as will his long-suffering sister, Lorraine.
The ending didn't feel right to me. It seemed too sudden, like it didn't fit. It's not a bad ending, and it makes sense, I just wanted something different for the character.
Would I recommend this novel? Yes, it is certainly worth your time!
The ending didn't feel right to me. It seemed too sudden, like it didn't fit. It's not a bad ending, and it makes sense, I just wanted something different for the character.
Would I recommend this novel? Yes, it is certainly worth your time!
June 24, 2025
The most harrowing story I've ever read. Words can't describe the level of discomfort I felt throughout this book.
January 28, 2024
CWs:
This book wasn't an easy read, it made me feel grimy. The only thing that made me stick with it was Maya Angelou's praise.
This book wasn't an easy read, it made me feel grimy. The only thing that made me stick with it was Maya Angelou's praise.
March 16, 2020
OMG what a gruelling read. Not recommended for bed time. Really depressing. But also brilliant. Both in literary style and story. And shouldn't we all understand a bit better what drug addiction looks like.
If you read 'A Million Little Pieces', books like 'Dry' you'll like this. And if you enjoy writers like Jack Kerouac too.
Unfortunately it's not in current print. I don't know why. But you can get it second hand.
Highly recommended for the curious.
If you read 'A Million Little Pieces', books like 'Dry' you'll like this. And if you enjoy writers like Jack Kerouac too.
Unfortunately it's not in current print. I don't know why. But you can get it second hand.
Highly recommended for the curious.
September 21, 2020
Ray Shell epitomises the mentality of a crack addict superbly in this menacing tale. Within just a few paragraphs, you're hooked like a halibut and feel compelled to paddle through the pages. The sentences are justifiably short, some whimsical, but all of which add to the intensity of each scene. They should have made this into a film.
October 1, 2023
Iced by Ray Shell was originally published in 1993. The book’s 30th anniversary will be celebrated with an anniversary edition, a theatre production, and a movie that is being developed. The book is written in the first person as the personal diary of Cornelius Washington, Jr.
Cornelius experimented with drugs for many years. When he was 40, he became addicted to crack. The book tells the story of how he became a crack addict.
Cornelius Washington, Jr. could have had a great life. He had a scholarship to Columbia University. Unfortunately, he did not graduate or pursue any type of career. Due to drug use and a series of terrible events, he turned to drugs.
His brother, Nate, died possibly from a combination of aids and drug abuse. Soon after that Cornelius’s drug use increased year after year.
His sister Lorraine was doing her best to help him stay alive and get clean. When she became pregnant, she started to distance herself from Cornelius. Who can blame her? She had her own life and soon there would be a child.
Eventually, he moved to Boston. Cornelius was helping a singing group by looking over their legal contracts. When they signed a record deal, the record label didn’t bring Cornelius on board in the same role. He moved back to New York.
When his addiction worsened, he went to stay in North Carolina with his mother. Everything was going well for him. He was the cleanest and healthiest that he had been in years. Until the last short period of time in North Carolina, he hadn’t done drugs at all.
Then temptation got the better of him. After a terrible tragedy, Cornelius didn’t care about anything except crack. He didn’t care about getting off of drugs anymore. He returned to New York where his drug addiction spiralled out of control.
It was sad to read about how someone with so much potential can be affected by drugs. So many people hurt him. He hurt so many people. If Cornelius hadn’t become addicted to drugs, his life could have gone in a different direction with less pain and tragedy.
As an African-American man, the cards were stacked against Cornelius. The War on Drugs has never helped people of color recover from substance abuse. Instead, people of color are sent to prison or die from drugs and drug-related activity. Drugs are from the devil but how do they get into the community?
If I had to guess, I would say that Richard Nixon would not appreciate this book. He would be wrong though.
If you would like to read a realistic book about drug addiction, then this book will be perfect. Please use your own judgment when deciding to read Iced. Do not read it if you are triggered by references to addiction.
Cornelius experimented with drugs for many years. When he was 40, he became addicted to crack. The book tells the story of how he became a crack addict.
Cornelius Washington, Jr. could have had a great life. He had a scholarship to Columbia University. Unfortunately, he did not graduate or pursue any type of career. Due to drug use and a series of terrible events, he turned to drugs.
His brother, Nate, died possibly from a combination of aids and drug abuse. Soon after that Cornelius’s drug use increased year after year.
His sister Lorraine was doing her best to help him stay alive and get clean. When she became pregnant, she started to distance herself from Cornelius. Who can blame her? She had her own life and soon there would be a child.
Eventually, he moved to Boston. Cornelius was helping a singing group by looking over their legal contracts. When they signed a record deal, the record label didn’t bring Cornelius on board in the same role. He moved back to New York.
When his addiction worsened, he went to stay in North Carolina with his mother. Everything was going well for him. He was the cleanest and healthiest that he had been in years. Until the last short period of time in North Carolina, he hadn’t done drugs at all.
Then temptation got the better of him. After a terrible tragedy, Cornelius didn’t care about anything except crack. He didn’t care about getting off of drugs anymore. He returned to New York where his drug addiction spiralled out of control.
It was sad to read about how someone with so much potential can be affected by drugs. So many people hurt him. He hurt so many people. If Cornelius hadn’t become addicted to drugs, his life could have gone in a different direction with less pain and tragedy.
As an African-American man, the cards were stacked against Cornelius. The War on Drugs has never helped people of color recover from substance abuse. Instead, people of color are sent to prison or die from drugs and drug-related activity. Drugs are from the devil but how do they get into the community?
If I had to guess, I would say that Richard Nixon would not appreciate this book. He would be wrong though.
If you would like to read a realistic book about drug addiction, then this book will be perfect. Please use your own judgment when deciding to read Iced. Do not read it if you are triggered by references to addiction.
February 1, 2024
Written like a recovering crack man picking up the pieces on comedown. Erratic but enough to follow and see the paranoia with it sounding lived instead of a teen’s fakery. Cornelius is in his mid-40s, sick of women trying to help him, his whole life is based on the pipe and sorting people into d!cks and suckers—literally. We get ghost and government mini rants, befitting street types but with a kernel of truth.
We also gets flecks of where his sadness stemmed: He was doing great at Columbia University, bagging guys and gals of every race, while his bro secretly got into smack. Details are hazy, but the heroin hit him right into the casket. That’s when Cornelius fell heavy between the cracks of cocaine. His parents blamed him for not keeping enough of an eye of him like it was his job. I didn’t know getting AIDS made you so susceptible to growing fungus in your throat and nose!
Prose example: “Memories that used to hip-hop like angry roaches across my brain movie-style, slowed down to comic-strip-frames in a funny paper like Peanuts.” Or “I got dents in my forehead from banging my head against the wall, trying to hurt the guilt.”
Usually it’s much choppier, five word sentences but they ain’t plain. Or with many line breaks:
“I eat rocks.
They eat me.
Alive.”
Between bits about letting guys suck him for money, there are niceties like this: “My voice laughs back at me like a lost echo in this busy, crowded, canyon of a city.”
Though I get crackheads are known for ranting, especially on political conspiracies and the like, it is rather heavy-handed and cringey with the “and then everybody clapped at the party I’m making about me”. It gets super repetitive when the conclusions are obvious, cliches, and distract from the actual story. In a bit we do get back to him yo-yoing on cutting back or quitting, moving, trying to rebuild a family unit and set goals.
Did not see the Lolitay route coming or him beefing w/ heroin users all high (literally) and mighty. Nor the cool music recording biz info, the late-life Army stint, sh!t w/ Pia, or weird sympathy it retains way too long—a feat for sure. Could have had a couple more guilt triggers/flashbacks but maybe that would fog the pace. What a mind-bending end!
We also gets flecks of where his sadness stemmed: He was doing great at Columbia University, bagging guys and gals of every race, while his bro secretly got into smack. Details are hazy, but the heroin hit him right into the casket. That’s when Cornelius fell heavy between the cracks of cocaine. His parents blamed him for not keeping enough of an eye of him like it was his job. I didn’t know getting AIDS made you so susceptible to growing fungus in your throat and nose!
Prose example: “Memories that used to hip-hop like angry roaches across my brain movie-style, slowed down to comic-strip-frames in a funny paper like Peanuts.” Or “I got dents in my forehead from banging my head against the wall, trying to hurt the guilt.”
Usually it’s much choppier, five word sentences but they ain’t plain. Or with many line breaks:
“I eat rocks.
They eat me.
Alive.”
Between bits about letting guys suck him for money, there are niceties like this: “My voice laughs back at me like a lost echo in this busy, crowded, canyon of a city.”
Though I get crackheads are known for ranting, especially on political conspiracies and the like, it is rather heavy-handed and cringey with the “and then everybody clapped at the party I’m making about me”. It gets super repetitive when the conclusions are obvious, cliches, and distract from the actual story. In a bit we do get back to him yo-yoing on cutting back or quitting, moving, trying to rebuild a family unit and set goals.
Did not see the Lolitay route coming or him beefing w/ heroin users all high (literally) and mighty. Nor the cool music recording biz info, the late-life Army stint, sh!t w/ Pia, or weird sympathy it retains way too long—a feat for sure. Could have had a couple more guilt triggers/flashbacks but maybe that would fog the pace. What a mind-bending end!
August 18, 2025
This was so powerful, and I will be thinking about this for a long time.
A book written through diary entries of a crack addict reflecting on his life up to his current point, and the events that brought him to this point. This was painful, heartbreaking, and frustrating. I truly think the diary approach of writing this novel was incredible and tactful because you can recognize that this is an unreliable narrator, yet you can also get a sense of understanding for WHY he made certain decisions. Even if the reason may not be compelling enough, you step foot into the mind of an addict.
There were many many important statements on the United States government's disgusting part in the crack epidemic bestowed upon black Americans and communities, as well as the complicity of white communities.
This book broke me because you really want to root for Cornelius and empathize for him. However, at some point actions will always outweigh intention, and so many of his actions are simply unexcusable. Shell explains that so many of the brightest and most intelligent minds have been destroyed by these drug addictions and we need to do something to stop this.
Additionally, it reminded me to take a step out of my bubble and acknowledge the people who have lived upon the streets of Cincinnati and Columbus, that I have been conditioned to keep walking past, it made me acknowledge that this addiction may have torn them apart, but they are still someone, and often times they are someone to SOMEBODY.
A book written through diary entries of a crack addict reflecting on his life up to his current point, and the events that brought him to this point. This was painful, heartbreaking, and frustrating. I truly think the diary approach of writing this novel was incredible and tactful because you can recognize that this is an unreliable narrator, yet you can also get a sense of understanding for WHY he made certain decisions. Even if the reason may not be compelling enough, you step foot into the mind of an addict.
There were many many important statements on the United States government's disgusting part in the crack epidemic bestowed upon black Americans and communities, as well as the complicity of white communities.
This book broke me because you really want to root for Cornelius and empathize for him. However, at some point actions will always outweigh intention, and so many of his actions are simply unexcusable. Shell explains that so many of the brightest and most intelligent minds have been destroyed by these drug addictions and we need to do something to stop this.
Additionally, it reminded me to take a step out of my bubble and acknowledge the people who have lived upon the streets of Cincinnati and Columbus, that I have been conditioned to keep walking past, it made me acknowledge that this addiction may have torn them apart, but they are still someone, and often times they are someone to SOMEBODY.
November 16, 2023
This book is not for the faint of heart. It is disturbing, vile, and point-blank upsetting at times. Iced follows the story of Cornelius Washington, Jr., a crack addict in NYC in the 90's. The story is told through diary entries, as Cornelius spirals into the depths of addiction, and recounts how he got there in the first place. While the story is fiction, it read truly like a memoir, and at the end, I found out the author had interviewed several addicts in research for his story. The truly upsetting part is that the entire time I was rooting for Cornelius. I wanted him to win, I wanted him to beat his addiction, even though I was also disgusted by him and his actions. This book takes an in depth look at the life of an addict from the point of view of an addict. I would not recommend for light bedtime reading, or if you're looking for a book that is going to make you feel anything good when you're done reading it.
October 17, 2023
A truly dark and gritty read that will stay with you long after you've put this book dow.
Ray drags you deep into the life on an addict and he doesn't make it pretty, he shows you the true and heartbreaking life of someone who has given it all up, the look into the characters past truly had me in pain. This author did an amazing job of making you feel like you were in this book, the writing style in immersive and soul gripping.
If you want a book on the true life of an addict, no sugar coating and the realities of many of the people who fall to these drugs then you need to pick this up.
Ray drags you deep into the life on an addict and he doesn't make it pretty, he shows you the true and heartbreaking life of someone who has given it all up, the look into the characters past truly had me in pain. This author did an amazing job of making you feel like you were in this book, the writing style in immersive and soul gripping.
If you want a book on the true life of an addict, no sugar coating and the realities of many of the people who fall to these drugs then you need to pick this up.
July 31, 2022
first few pages weren't really convincing and a bit difficult to get into, but once you arrive in that headspace the book creates, and begin to understand the vibe, it becomes more and more gripping. has a few banger lines, true gems even i'd say, and it does manage to create this desire to want to know what happens next. raw at times, quite brutally honest, vivid, poses an intriguing perspective, too. good chance i'll read this again sometime. has some bits of really good prose, which i honestly wasn't expecting.
May 28, 2025
an absolutely brilliant writer.
He had written this novel as if some of these events happened to him. it's sad that this book didn't get more attention. it's never too late but I did purchase this book at a dollar store. how this book ended up at a dollar store I'll never know but I feel lucky to have found such an amazing novel
He had written this novel as if some of these events happened to him. it's sad that this book didn't get more attention. it's never too late but I did purchase this book at a dollar store. how this book ended up at a dollar store I'll never know but I feel lucky to have found such an amazing novel
June 16, 2023
Beautiful and heartbreaking, the writer takes us on a journey through the life of his main character. His many successes and many falls as has ice addiction takes over his life. It is a must read. Couldn't put the book down until I finished it.
October 19, 2023
God I was so gripped! Made me feel so ill at points! Shockingly sad and tragic but felt so real, at one point I had to check again that it was fiction lol. Never have I wanted someone that I come to almost hate to better themselves so much.
dnf
March 7, 2025As a sober person this is too triggering for me to read right now! but INCREDIBLE writing. I can’t believe this isn’t more well-known, except the fact that it is very difficult and heavy to read. Got 75 pages in before I admitted that I can’t read this
May 12, 2018
Sum up a book in one sentence challenge: If lots of bad things happen to you, you will become a drug addict.
June 4, 2018
Not a book to read for entertainment. For what it is.. it is ok.
August 16, 2020
The second time I've read this; the first being over 10 years ago. It scared me then and has had the same affect today.
A "must read" to prevent the taking of drugs.
A "must read" to prevent the taking of drugs.
Read
August 11, 2023One of the best and harrowing books I ever read. The deep impression it made on me about 20 years ago is still there.
September 28, 2023
This book is powerful and well written but is also painful and traumatic at the same time if that makes sense. Would recommend this book to others.
August 5, 2024
I think the government do be ruining lives
August 31, 2024
The GREATEST BOOK I EVER READ SO FAR.
November 22, 2024
Story about a struggling crack addict who writes the woeful episodes in his life in his diary. I had mixed-feelings about Cornelius Jr, but by his experiences and fate was harrowing to think about.
January 11, 2025
A diary that I never expected to read but glad I did! Beautiful writing!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews