"The 24th book by celebrated American poet John Ashbery, 'Chinese Whispers'creates gentle pictures, influenced heavily by elements of the everyday world. Events are sculpted into vignettes that leave you feeling part of the scene; you know the lover, you've seen the lake, you can smell the beer in the neighborhood bar. This intimate insight into the world of the poet is an intentional one; as the title suggests, the Chinese whisper is an idea passed from person to person, so that everyone in the game becomes involved. With Ashbery's writing you do become involved and, eventually, transported by his work...Chinese Whispers will temporarily provide you with a beautifully visualized space in another life."
(Emma Parkinson, Venue, 18th October 2002)

"A keen sense of the ridiculous, a surrealist's store of images, an apparent lack of self-interest, and a good ear for colloquial speech: these seem to be the qualities that have attracted Ashbery's huge following."
(Anne Stevenson, The London Magazine, Aug-Sept 2003)