Coetzee gets in close on his subject: we are restricted to his perspective, as events occur in real time. He gets closer still: Coetzee never calls the protagonist by his name. He always uses the male pronoun, he. The main character's name only appears a few times: on documents; spoken by other characters; and on the back of the book. This tight, restricted perspective is very effective. It's easy to believe that this is an honest portrayal of the protagonist–and, because the guy is so arrogant, it's very easy to quarrel with him. All of this helps the reader become emotionally invested in the story, and, over the course of the novel, in what it means to live in Africa.
PS. My favorite review of Disgrace is The New Yorker review on the back of the book. Unfortunately, the entire text isn't online. Here's the blurb:
"Compulsively readable ... A novel that not only works its spell but makes it impossible for us to lay it aside once we've finished reading it ... Coetzee's sentences are coiled springs, and the energy they release would take other writers pages to summon."
