What a Piece of Work: Stories

With these eight stories, a quietly lethal satirist of popular culture sends up self-help fads, corporate conformism, commercialized modern art, meaningless jobs, sexual affairs and other frantically pursued means of escape. In ``Gorepac,'' a narcissistic couple attempt to cure their nerdy teenage son of his video-game addiction but are themselves overcome with emotion as they watch war games. In the surreal ``Jogger's Reef,'' joggers who run to headphone music form a destructive cult that threatens the nation's productivity. Baker ( Track of the Giant ) displays his flair for caustic realism in ``Stealing Home,'' about a snobbish art professor who's almost seduced by a philistine high school classmate, and in ``Chiquita Banana Muy Bonita,'' in which a trio of impoverished Andean natives humor--even as they pickpocket--patronizing gringo tourists. ``PG'' unreels as the voice-over to a home movie whose jerky, comical feel belies its serious subject, a couple's separation. Enjoyable despite a certain sameness, these stories paint a terrifying picture of an America without a moral center of gravity. (Sept.)