Would you have been able to feel that deep connection to some element of the story if the author didn't write it well or choose to include it in their story? I think what people often mean when they speak about an author's "genius" is not that the author was directly trying to invoke a particular idea or emotion or opinion but rather, to write their story in such a way that they tap into some level of Truth or Humanity that resonates through the words and into your heart or mind.

It comes through them and is passed on to you, the reader. They are like a conduit, they channel something deep, and then they manage to use written language to effectively allow readers to relate to those things. How you relate or which parts you relate to isn't as important as the fact that you were affected at all.

They don't know you (the general "you") because you are just one of the millions of possible readers they could have in mind when they wrote the story. Or maybe they wrote their stories only for themselves. That doesn't matter in the end. What they were trying to accomplish personally doesn't even matter. All that matters is people connect to those stories to a level beyond casual entertainment.