How does Cormac McCarthy use imagery in Suttree?

McCarthy has a unique ability to carry the reader through hundreds of words, inviting them join him in a painting of life. For McCarthy, the plot of the story is almost secondary to the experience..... the places, lifestyles, smells, images, and atmosphere of a city in decay..... of people in varying levels of degradation. The reader feels as if he's along for the ride on Suttree's boat down the river, bobbing, churning, turning circles, and bumping along, like life.