Slow Narrative Pace

Narrative Pace: the pace of the storyline as conveyed through the length and structure of sentences; the pace as seen through the syntax
short syntax= quick narrative pace
long syntax= slow narrative pace

In Zaat (pg 200) "He passed the palaces and villas, which as a result of shifting fortunes has changed hands form one cream to another, then the villas from the forties, solid sturdy buildings with lofty entrances (some with piles of rubbish in front of them that no one had the motivation or the energy to remove) and standing no more than a few stories high (unless extra floors has been added), served by slow ambling elevators whose wood had preserved the smells of bygone days, with side balconies, some showing signs of age, like people betrayed by fate, or those waiting in Europe and America for the situation to settle down; others, after being closed off with alumetal and fumee, and a coat of gleaming white or dark brown paint, had been transformed by the second or third generation into business offices...[and so on and so forth]"

The sentence is 22 lines long. Evidently, this is a very, painfully long syntax and a narrative pace like a snail through molasses. However, this slow narrative pace allows the reader to fall into the same meandering pace that Abdel Maguid is maintaining as he drifts through the city. In this way,, Ibrahim allows the audience to experience the read, rather than read about an experience.