Andy Corren’s profane and hilarious obituary for his mother, the “plus-sized Jewish lady redneck” Renay Mandel Corren, went viral during the dark pandemic days of December 2021. (“Renay lied a lot,” her son wrote. “But on the plus side, Renay didn’t cook, she didn’t clean, and she was lousy with money, too.) Corren has followed up with a memoir about life with Renay, a book every bit as crass and delightful as the woman herself. A blend of Southern gothic horror and Borscht Belt humor, Dirtbag Queen is a one-of-a-kind reading experience.
Growing up gay and Jewish in rural North Carolina in the 1970s and ’80s would have been tricky enough for the young Andy, before factoring in a lack of stable housing or access to food. Add in four older brothers, only some of whose nicknames can be printed in a family magazine, a deadbeat dad and a sexual awakening during the “celestial wonders” of the Mormon variety show Donny & Marie, and you’ve got a coming-of-age story unique in the field.
Andy’s job as a child was to be his mother’s emotional support animal, sharing her waterbed, her Judith Krantz novels and her love of all things Hollywood and trashy. A scene where a child Andy massages his mother’s feet, swollen from obesity and her late-night triple shifts, suggests how this childhood has burdened Corren’s less-than-successful adulthood. Yet he captures Renay’s outsized passions for Pepsi, bowling, porn and gambling with genuine love and affection.
While there are other memoirs that document rural poverty and parental neglect, few manage the feat with the humor and sparkle of Dirtbag Queen. Never sentimental or self-pitying, the memoir records Renay’s dying moments (at 84) with a good dose of compassion and love. Of course, Renay’s passage from life into death would be both rose-scented and marked by fraternal discord. Of course, her memorial took place at the bowling alley she lorded over. And clearly, in the end, she was dearly loved by everyone she ever stole from. Her dubious charms and outsize presence, in all senses of the word, now grace readers everywhere in this moving tribute.
