Right away, despite the appalling news, he is comparing it with the latest developments in his marriage and career. But rather than being just an example of callousness on the part of the narrator, or an indifference to dramatic incident on the part of the author, it is actually a truer reflection of how one experiences grief. Remember, Burton receives the news over the telephone. The news makes itself felt in the play of the distances between the plain fact and his imagination. Burton becomes, at this point if not before, a reader of his life.
All action is kindled in the mind.
For us, rather than being insulated from the impact of the news, as we would be in the usual novel, we become Burton's fellow readers, living in his uncertain present, trying to understand what it all means. The style of the narration is repetitious and associative. This could descend into an annoying tic, but works here because each sentence is necessary to the narrative. There is a powerful section where Burton thinks about the visit to the mortuary with his wife, as he struggles, late at night, to urinate in the house of his adopted daughter. It doesn't amount to much.