Recently I finished We the Living which I choose to read out of my love for Russian history not because it was wrote by Ayn Rand but what I don't seem to get is why people are so polarized over her other works. I've read Anthem which from what I've seen in some reviews is a microcosm of her larger works so of course I can't say I've read her two main novels but what I don't understand is how her work or at least her philosphy expressed through her work makes readers love or hate her. Other authors and yes maybe to a lesser extent express their own personal philosophy through their works but they don't get nearly the same reaction.
I don't want to get anyone going by comparing her to better authors but for example an atheist can appreciate the Brothers Karamazov and not mind the sections featuring the Elder Zosima but say someone who is not in complete agreement with Rand reads a one hundred page dystopian novella she wrote gets completely irriated, why?