How does Cynthia Ozick use imagery in The Pagan Rabbi?

One example of imagery occurs when the narrator first visits the city park to view the tree where Isaac hanged himself, he notes that the "tree lay back against the sky like a licked postage stamp. Rain began to beat it flatter yet. A stench of sewage came up like a veil in the nostril." This imagery is much more descriptive of the sensory attributes of the situation than if the author had said that the tree looked flat against the sky and a smell rose up.