How does the author use imagery in the novel, On Mystic Lake?

Hannah uses detailed imagery to present the town of Mystic in both a literal and idealized fashion. The sky, for example, starting "deep in the palm of God's hand," dusk portrayed as day rounding "the bend into a lavender evening." Descriptions of characters are also cliched and hyperbolic: one character has "breasts the size of the Alps" and another character's smile falls "faster than a cake when the oven door was slammed."