What rhetorical choice does Noah use to describe his mother in paragraph 14, explain why and provide contextual evidence

Noah uses an analogy (extended comparison) to describe his mother's relationship with his father.

Living alone in the city, not being trusted and not being able to trust, my mother started spending more and more time in the company of someone with
whom she felt safe: the tall Swiss man down the corridor in 206. He was forty-six. She was twenty-four. He was quiet and reserved; she was wild and free. She would stop by his flat to chat; they’d go to underground get-togethers, go dancing at the nightclub with the rotating dance floor. Something clicked.