If you consider the Odyssey as the end of a series of tales that begins with the Iliad, then the series begins and ends with rage. The disasterous rage of Achilles that starts the Iliad, and the murderous rage of Odysseus at the end of the Odyssey. The hot bloodedness of the characters should make them hard to sympathise with, but Homer (He? She? Them?) pulls it off. The actual 'Odyessy' or voyage, with the Cyclops, Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis etc, is only a small part of this book. Much more attention is paid to Odysseus squaring off with the unwelcome suitors of his wife Penelope in Ithaca. Homer obviously felt the audience for this tale would be more concerned about how that conflict was resolved.