Redfish

This is our last story of Kirby and the narrator. In a way it is sad. It's an almost bittersweet parting because Bass has given us only tiny insights into their lives and they are the types of characters who you could create a novel with. In a sense I think this is Bass' purpose with giving us just a taste of their lives. We're forced to figure out what happens to them next by ourself.
The organization of the stories about Kirby and the narrator in the book is interesting. They start out with them dying, go to them as teenagers, and then end with them somewhere in between. It's not chronological, but in a way makes sense. Because you have to understand where they are, then where they once were and finally how they got there.
"Redfish" focuses on how the narrator fits into the Kirby and Tricia triangle. At this point he's still unsure of where he fits in there and is almost jealous of Kirby's affection for Tricia. This is evidenced by the fact that he keeps trying to distract Kirby from Tricia. In the end he relents and realizes that he really does like Tricia. But there for awhile you begin to wonder how they ended up working it all out.
The lede is a receipe which is an interesting twist. And not an angle you usually see taken by authors. It works for Bass and he runs with where it takes the characters. In a way it's not so unusual for the characters in this story because it seems like they're always drinking.
The best scene in the story is when they bury the car up to the windows in the sand trying to pull over the tower. It gives you insight into just how young, foolish, and rich they are at this point. My guess is they just left the car there too. The contents of Kirby's trunk provide further characterization as well as helping us deterimine where in the timeline we are.
At the end of the story Bass brings us back to the beginning with a fish.......with Kirby and the narrator once again dreaming of catching impossibly large fish.