The World According to Garp by John Irving

Among her followers is the transsexual ex-football player Roberta Muldoon (John Lithgow), a model of sanity, who becomes a friend of Garp's and leads him toward a reconciliation with his mother and her cause. When he finally publishes his first book, his mother simultaneously publishes a feminist manifesto that makes her a lightning rod for all manner of victimized women. Intent on becoming a writer, living a normal life, and raising a family, Garp marries college sweetheart Helen Holm (Mary Beth Hurt) and starts a family, but he is plagued by the feeling he must wage war against all that is violent in the world that can possibly bring harm to them.

Garp-the fatherless son of well-known eccentric feminist activist Jenny Fields (Glenn Close) who spends much of his life trying to escape the influence of his unusual upbringing and the ever-expanding shadow of his mother's fame.

George Roy Hill's intermittently faithful adaptation of John Irving's best-selling novel lightens the tone of the book's black comedy while retaining at least part of its effect.

The World According to Garp by John Irving