From another post, I'm now curious about the book Wicked autumn by G.M. Malliet, especially the author's style of writing.
For example, I found that it's rather tiresome to read and understand this sentence,
(a) She was saying these things now—calling on all the resources in her cliché lineup, in fact—to a captive audience of approximately thirty-five women who, to a woman, were wishing themselves elsewhere than in the Village Hall, sitting on orange molded-plastic seats that might have been rejects from an ergonomics study, on an otherwise peaceful Saturday night in September.
But after reading it a few times, I can parse them as a perfectly grammatical English sentence.
However, I was baffled with this one,
(b) She stood, feet solidly planted, a vital, comely, and charismatic figure who, although essentially otherworldly, managed to operate her New Age gift shop on a large profit margin.
I can understand the meaning, but by patching those fragments together. To me, it seems like a run-on sentence, but I was suggested that it is just an unusually long string of apposition.
Could you please help me parse that sentence (b)?