I'll agree with you, Seabreeze. I've been exposed to various end times interpretations, which inevitably involve interpreting Revelation, over the years. Preterist, historicist, dispensational, pre-trib/mid-trib/post-trib rapture, amillenial, post millennial and so on. They all make interesting points and all of them come with flaws, usually to do with what's interpreted as literal or figurative, as you point out.
As a young bloke, I tried, many times, to read You Can Live Forever In Paradise On Earth, even in the context of "Well, it's something to read". It was disjointed and all over the place. A dog's breakfast of inconsistencies and weird parallels. It also didn't pick up on points that it could have made.
To be fair, I found the Seventh Day Adventist interpretation equally confusing. I suppose that that should be expected since the two eschatologies grew from the same root.