... dried off thoroughly in a towel robe during the twenty minutes or so he was on his knees

[Nonverbis]

HOTEL BY ARTHUR HAILEY

As he did most mornings, Curtis O'Keefe showered first and prayed afterward. The procedure was typically efficient since he came clean to God and also dried off thoroughly in a towel robe during the twenty minutes or so he was on his knees.

I can't understand what is going on here. I wish a comma were after robe.

So, was he drying off during twenty minutes? Sounds strange, but frankly speaking without this whole sentence looks like a clumsy heap of scrapы of phrases.

The procedure was typically efficient since he came clean to God and also dried off thoroughly in a towel robe during the twenty minutes or so. He was on his knees.

Garbage.

The procedure was typically efficient since he came clean to God and also dried off thoroughly in a towel robe. During the twenty minutes or so he was on his knees.

This sounds more logical. But anyway, it is not understandable. Something strange is going on.

Could you help me understand this. Could you help me understand what took 20 minutes? Shower and praying? Or just praying? Or just drying up?

And why such a slippery construction? Do you like such style?

 

[5jj]

As he did most mornings, Curtis O'Keefe showered first and prayed afterward. The procedure was typically efficient since (1) he came clean to God and (2) also dried off thoroughly in a towel robe during the twenty minutes or so he was on his knees.

He was clean when he got out of the shower.
He put on his towel robe.
He got on his knees to pray to God for twenty minutes.
While he was praying, he dried off.

The original is fine.

 

[jutfrank]

The original sentence is very well expressed, I think.

I can't quite tell which part you're not understanding. What we know is that some time during the twenty minutes that he was on his knees praying, he came to be thoroughly dry. That doesn't necessarily mean that he spent the whole time drying off.

It also occurs to me that you may be parsing the following phrase incorrectly:

the twenty minutes he was on his knees = the twenty minutes or so that he was on his knees

 

[Tdol]

And why such a slippery construction?

To combine cleanliness with godliness. (Speaking as an atheist, it works for me. )