Good writing needs strong conflict and there's no more powerful conflict than that inherent in coming of age stories. Several recent audios prove this point.

Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex (Audio Renaissance, $49.95, unabridged, 14 cassettes, 23 hours) has an engrossing fascinating structure. The male viewpoint character is a hemaphradite who tells of his growing up as a female, Calliope Stephanides who suspects she's not like other girls. But this story is much more than intrigue of character and viewpoint, the author is a gifted story teller who tells ten decades of one Greek family's life, from the grandparents' departure from the crumbling Ottoman Empire to Cal's time in hippie era California. Eugenides is a genius at description, he chooses just the right words and poignant images to please the ear. Kristoffer Tabori's dramatization gives a strong sense that he's savoring the telling. From thick Greek accents, to the squeaky adolescent voices, to a list of descriptions that roll off his tongue to describe an entire period of history. He manages all with the joy that only comes from someone who's delighting in the material he's reading!

Laura Moriarty's The Center of Everything (Recorded Books, $34.99, unabridged, eight cassettes, 13.25 hours) tells the story of Evelyn Bucknow who is growing up with no father. Evelyn's mother has been rejected by her father for her sexual behavior and her grandmother who wants to involve her in religion. Evelyn herself has an gift for academics and has to fiercely guard this "blessing" to keep it intact. Julie Dretzin's reading is involving, gives character depth, and makes Evelyn's voice just as real at 17 as she is at 7.

Conflict can be powerful in memoir as it is in Alexandra Fuller's Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight (Recorded Books, $, seven cassettes, 10.25 hours). As a small child, Alexandra Fuller knew she could not wake her parents at night, for they had guns under their pillows and might shoot her. Her coming of age in Rhodesia during the Civil War provoked many strange practices, so did the personal sorrows of her family who suffered death and depression that almost equaled the horrors of experiencing the death of colonialism. Still, Fuller's unconventional English-bred parents and her circumstances show a family strong in resilience. And amid all kinds of suffering and transitions, all of them loved the amazing land which surrounds them. Lisette Lecat is a South African reader whose voice rings true whether she's revealing Fuller's personal emotional difficulty, or African politics and places.

Brad Land's memoir focuses on his later teenage years and a difficult coming of age. Goat (Recorded Books, $24.99 unabridged, four cassettes, six hours) is startling in both language and events. Brad physically survives a terrible beating by strangers, only to fall into a realm of depression, loneliness, and fear. Attending Clemson, he finds fraternity hazing a perfect compliment to augment his personal hell! At the core of his troubles is his belief that he is a goat and his determination to flee those guiding principles put him on a path of healing. Nick Landrum does well with the soft, tender inner voicing of the author's fears and desires, as well as the cruel, hard voices of those who would hurt him, and filling the hero's outer dialogue with a bravado he never feels.

Cassie Claiborne's the hard-shelled, tender heroine of Haven Kimmel's Something Rising (Light and Swift) (Highbridge, $32.95, unabridged, seven CDs, seven and a half hours). Cassie's mother is a dreamy drinker, her father has lived hard and left the family early on, her sister's fragile and her peers are headed nowhere. Cassie rises to the task of caring for her family and friends and finds escape in pool halls and the bliss of her ease with sinking shots. Chelsea Rives switches voices and moods easily, voicing the strength of Cassie's will and pool skills to balance the sadness that threatens to overtake her.

Dave Pelzer publishes another installment of his growing up memoir, The Privilege of Youth (Brilliance Audio, $29.95, unabridged, six CDs, seven hours). His first two stories revealed one of the most horrific child abuse cases ever come through the California State system. But this is an uplifting story of his near-manhood for he meets his first real friends, father figures who care deeply, and he experiences the joys childhood has to offer for the first time! Those who have been horrified by what he faced in previous audios, will share in his triumph in turning his life around! J. Charles reads with the full of emotions audio with all the required feelings from Pelzer's innocence with bullying middle schoolers to the bliss he finds in the commonplace, and his gratitude at finding a positive path, a philosophy of living that makes sense. A positive audio that still leaves you amazed at Pelzer's courage and strength and resilience!