How does Hunter S. Thompson use imagery in The Rum Diary: The Long Lost Novel?

Example of Imagery:

"Sounds of a San Juan night, drifting across the city through layers of humid air; sounds of life and movement, of people getting ready and people giving up, the sound of hope and the sound of hanging on, and behind them all, the quiet, deadly ticking of a thousand hungry clocks, the lonely sound of time passing in the long Caribbean night."