There can be many reasons “why” — first and foremost, that the audience isn’t used to the kind of story you are telling or to looking at the world from the point of view you present.

OTOH, I discovered that I didn’t care so much whether or not my readers LIKED either the book or the hero — so long as they were ENGAGED. At a dinner party my Panel of Experts loudly and lengthily discussed and debated my first novel. Though none professed “liking” it, they could not stop talking about it.

I’m satisfied with that, any time!

My first thought was like yours, Jalisa: whether or not you like the guy, his story is valid and could be true (or, at least, I think so).

My second thought was, I guess it depends on the reader. If you are looking only for entertainment, maybe you do have to like the protagonist. If you want to LEARN something, maybe you don’t.

An interviewer said, “I wouldn’t want to be friends with Nora, would you? Her outlook is almost unbearably grim.”

And Messud responded brilliantly:

“For heaven’s sake, what kind of question is that? Would you want to be friends with Humbert Humbert? Would you want to be friends with Mickey Sabbath? Saleem Sinai? Hamlet? Krapp? Oedipus? Oscar Wao? Antigone? Raskolnikov? Any of the characters in The Corrections? Any of the characters in Infinite Jest? Any of the characters in anything Pynchon has ever written? Or Martin Amis? Or Orhan Pamuk? Or Alice Munro, for that matter? If you’re reading to find friends, you’re in deep trouble. We read to find life, in all its possibilities. The relevant question isn’t ‘is this a potential friend for me?’ but ‘is this character alive?'”