Admittedly enjoying the Odyssey for most of us means enjoying an English language translation. But I grew up with it in my home. What wasn't there for an 11 year old to like? Battles, monsters, storms, getting into bad situations and getting out of them again with trickery an 11 year old could appreciate. As an adult, you can add realism (at least for the male characters. The women are pretty one dimensional. (An argument can be made for Penelope as an exception - perhaps.) ) And also a glimpse of alien culture. Also the contrast of Odyesseus the trickster hero, practical, results oriented, and (in the Illiad) a team player vs. Achilles (in the Illiad) the ultimate atomistic warrior - fighting for personal honor, personal gain - walking out on his fellow warriors in the face of unfair division of loot. (As much offended pride as disappointed greed/lust.) Returning to battle to avenge the dealth of his lover. I can't help wonder if Homer's Odyssey did not represent a transition in the view of heroism - from Achilles to Odyeseus as the perfect warrior.
I suspect I was lucky to have a prose rather than verse translation. I suspect that my 11 year old self would have been completely unable to appreciate the latter.