The Books
Welcome to the Just Lassen to Me! Story
Twelve years in the making, Harvy Simkovits’s memoir Just Lassen to Me! is a true, enthralling family and family business tale. WWII survivor, escapee from Soviet communism, and Canadian immigrant, Johnny Simkovits, amassed a fortune through hard work, gutsy moves, and devious means. Harvy’s Jewish mother, Anna, hid in Budapest during the war using false Christian papers and had her own unsettling stories of family survival and strife. Their son, Harvy, enticed to follow in his father’s finagling footsteps, works to reconcile, repudiate, and rectify his mom’s painful burdens and dad’s dubious legacy. Written with honesty, humor, and humility, this is a son’s story of surviving his turbulent family and survivor father.
In Harvy Simkovits’ memoir of his complicated father, the son has assembled the weight of memories to impress upon the reader the stamp of this forceful man he loved and endured. Simkovits unknots the kinks of this big-hearted swindler, affectionate brawler, chivalrous womanizer and solicitous browbeater with panache. It is as much about the son’s struggle to uncouple from the sin and resolve the guilt as it is about a freewheeling father who could very well be the protagonist of a Canadian immigrant version of Mad Men.
—Tom Daley, author of House You Cannot Reach
Simkovits recounts his struggle to come to terms with his father’s morally questionable financial dealings in this first memoir in a series. (It’s) a thoughtful consideration of the limits of familial loyalty.
—Kirkus Review
Now thirteen years into its crafting, the Just Lassen to Me! saga continues into its second volume. Come learn the inner workings of Johnny Simkovits money-making schemes and money-hiding enterprises. See how Johnny entices his second son, Harvy, into his sordid vices and devices. Watch as Harvy works to gain his father’s favor and trust while trying to maintain a distance from his dad’s dubious dealings, both with money and mistresses. Will Harvy find a workable and fulfilling balance point between his mother, brother, and father, or will he fall from the tightrope on which his patriarch has precariously placed him?
With uncompromising candor and wonderful cinematic detail, Harvy Simkovits has written a powerful memoir of culture, character, family dynamics, triumph, and trauma. In Just Lassen to Me, Book One, the author views his father—at once brilliant and generous, and cruel and deeply flawed—through the eyes of a boy, teen, young man, and mature man. Book Two is a deeper dive into Harvy’s journey toward adulthood and the often conflicting agendas of success, his father’s approval, self-preservation, and healing his family, body, and psyche. I feel deeply moved, as many will be, by this story of uncommon courage through pain toward truth and personal integrity.
—Lawrence Peltz MD, Psychiatrist, author of The Mindful Path to Addiction Recovery—a practical guide to regaining control over your life.
A writer continues to reflect on a fraught relationship with his father. Simkovits is a natural storyteller. (It’s) an emotionally astute sequel.
—Kirkus Review
After fourteen years of authoring, the third volume of Just Lassen to Me! brings more twists, turns, and tumult in Harvy’s relationship with his finagling entrepreneurial father and afflicted immigrant family. New players try to help heal the family and quiet the commotion. Inroads are fashioned, but will such efforts provide success and security for the Simkovits clan?
Will Johnny clean up his ways, becoming an upstanding husband, father, and businessman? Or will the family suffer more tragic losses through Johnny’s unashamed shenanigans, hurtful ways, and blatant trickery? I think you might guess the answer.
After 15 years of gestation and generation, the Just Lassen to Me! saga comes to its culmination and conclusion. More twists and turns, ups and downs, and ins and outs will emerge regarding Johnny’s legacy, both onshore and offshore.
See what happens as the family monarch slowly loses his faculties after surviving a serious hit to his health. Watch as Johnny undergoes a falling out with his third wife, and how he mismanages his money over the waning years of his life. Can his sons reign in, mitigate, and overcome their father’s flagrant falls and foolish failures?
Both soft landings and hard endings will culminate with Harvy’s stepmother, half-sister, uncle, and brother. Experience the conclusion of Dad’s unashamed straying with sordid people, and the disposition of his legitimate holdings and clandestine empire. Most importantly, will Harvy be able to put his Dad’s distasteful dealings behind him, transcend his father’s legacy and family history, and come into his rightful own as a son of Johnny?
A third to a half of the profits generated from book sales will go to support Boston area non-profits that work with the adult and child victims of domestic abuse and violence.